Stalemate at the Silverlake but other results sees Spitfires up to 3rd

EASTLEIGH v MAIDENHEAD UNITED



SATURDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2009
Blue Square South

Report by Jamie Montigue

Eastleigh ended the afternoon in third place in the Blue Square South, thanks in the main to play-off seeking rivals Chelmsford City suffering a 2-1 defeat away to Bishops Stortford, whilst at the Silverlake Stadium the Spitfires were held to a goalless draw with Maidenhead United.

Tony Taggart sustained a hamstring injury in the midweek win over Newport County and is expected to be out for around two weeks. This forced manager Ian Baird into making one change to the starting line up as Warren Goodhind was drafted into the defence at right back, allowing Steve Clark to operate in the midfield to fill the void left by Taggart.

In the opening stages either side had good opportunities within a matter of minutes of each other. Anthony Riviere was particularly lively from the start as he won an early corner kick and then forced a save out of Shane Gore on two minutes. Finding himself free in the area, the energetic midfielder had a low shot turned away by Gore, who had made himself big. The ball rebounded back off the goalkeeper and fell to Riviere whose follow-up shot was well charged down and deflected behind for another corner.

Maidenhead United perhaps had the best chance to open the scoring in the fifth minute following excellent approach play by burly centre forward, Mustafa Tyriaki. A low ball was fired across from the left by Tyriaki and into the Eastleigh penalty area where he had picked out the unmarked Ashley Nicholls to perfection. The on-rushing Magpies midfielder got it all wrong and should have done a lot better, instead he skied his shot out of the ground.

The hosts forced a further corner after Warren Goodhind and Peter Adeniyi had linked up well down the right hand side. From the resulting set piece, Riviere latched on to the delivery and lashed a stinging left-footed half volley so narrowly wide of the mark.

Eastleigh continued to press with Riviere appearing to drive the side on from midfield. It was his cross to the back post that so nearly found a way through to Ashley Carew, the loanee midfielder had stole in and would have been left with a simple finish were it not for the visitors' skipper Ashley Nicholls getting back to put in a vital header to avert the danger temporarily by nodding behind for a corner kick.

Jamie Brown rose to meet Ashley Carew's delivery and had a header well saved from point blank range as Gore denied Eastleigh the lead with a smart stop.

In the 22nd minute Tyron Smith tested Jason Matthews to the limit with an extremely good effort from 25-yards, though fortunately for Eastleigh, the number one keeper tipped round the post diving at full-stretch low to his right.

Injury woes have become all too familiar for the Spitfires this season and there was about to be another name added to the list as Riviere, who ironically up to this point had arguably been the best player on the pitch, limped out of the action eleven minutes before the break. His replacement Bertie Brayley, made a welcome return to the club following his release from Chelmsford, and made his first appearance back in the 1-0 win over Newport on Wednesday night. It was good to see him back at the Silverlake Stadium again too.

Just like the previous time out for Eastleigh, a first half injury led to a premature forced substitution and similarly, the unforeseen events led to Jamie Brown switching from centre forward to central midfield.

On the stroke of half time Matthews clawed the ball away from goal to make a crucial save to keep out Nevin Saroya's header.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 0-0 Maidenhead United

Maidenhead started the half brightly as Bobby Behzadi sent in a teasing low cross from the right flank that was spilled by Matthews and had to be swept away by Warren Goodhind.

Moments later Bertie Brayley had a penalty claim turned down after the forward showed inspiration in flicking the ball up with his back to goal from the edge of the penalty area and in one swift movement turned to fire goal wards. This is where the ball appeared to strike an arm though it wasn't clear cut in my opinion. The referee was uninterested in any case.

After his wonder goal in midweek, Ashley Carew looked for a repeat today just after the hour mark as he beat Tyriaki to the right of goal, 20-yards out and let fly after Tom Jordan had held the ball up well and fed the ball back to him, though the fine attempt was off target.

Eastleigh had a further chance two minutes later when Jamie Brown won possession in the Maidenhead penalty area and rolled the ball back to Warren Goodhind who had found time and space running in. The defender just couldn't keep his shot down as he watched his skied effort sail high and wide.

The Magpies' Jon Stevenson picked up a loose ball in the 65th minute, and with space opening up in front of him approximately 30-yards from goal, the striker hit a speculative curling shot that was only inches wide with Matthews scrambling to get across and was the closest the game had came to a goal for a good period of time.

As the game wore on it seemed to drag as a contest in places where the match had become so tight and had been a stalemate for so long. For obvious reasons it was important that neither side lost the game and perhaps this contributed to more of an emphasis on defence rather than attack.

Brett Williams was booked for an over-exuberant challenge, nothing more – no harm intended, but catching his opponent all the same. The Maidenhead players crowded round the youngster, clearly not taking a liking to the look of the tackle and in the aftermath Saroya appeared to lash out at Williams while he was on the ground, yet the towering defender escaped without even being spoken to.

With seven minutes remaining Joe Maxwell was brought on to replace Williams in attack.

The last of the action saw a neat through ball from Jamie Brown cut off by the alert goalkeeping of Shane Gore, who was quick off his line to collect the ball ahead of Brayley.
 

Goalless it remained and on reflection it was probably about right.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 0–0 Maidenhead United

Match pictures by Jozef Montigue

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